We have to make our own destiny! Carl Jenkinson issues battle cry for England U21s

CARL JENKINSON has issued the first battle cry in the fight for starting places for next summer's European Under-21 Championships.

Carl Jenkinson says that the England U21s squad are taking the Euros very seriously

Eric Dier's controversial decision to pull out of Thursday's friendly against Portugal, citing a desire to train at Spurs in order to win a centre-back berth under new boss Mauricio Pochettino, could be to Jenkinson's advantage.

The on-loan West Ham defender excelled with a terrific display at right-back for Gareth Southgate's Young Lions at Turf Moor, capped with a goal in England's 3-1 win, and could now be ahead of Dier in the pecking order.

Jenkinson certainly believes the race to make Southgate's side for their opening Euro finals group stage clash against Portugal on June 18 has now begun in earnest.

The youngster, who is on loan at West Ham for the season from Arsenal, said: "The training sessions are of a very high quality and everyone is busting a gut because everyone wants to play in the tournament.

"We have all been trying to stake our claim for a place in the qualifying games, but it really does start now. We have a game against France on Monday and have just played Portugal. These are big games that you really want to be impressing in."

Victory over Portugal was a significant step forward for Southgate's side, although Jenkinson was adamant the result will not lead to over-confidence amongst his team-mates.

"We can't get carried away," he said. "We have had discussions between ourselves and we will not be looking at what happened in the past.

"We have got our own destiny and our own history to make as a team."

England's record in the European finals is decidedly mixed. They were runners-up behind Germany in 2009, failed to advance past the group stages two years later and disastrously in 2013, they lost all three group matches under Stuart Pearce.

But Jenkinson is not concerned about tournaments from the past.

"If you look at previous teams it hasn't been a great record but that has got nothing to do with us. We are our own team," he said.

"We are playing with a lot of confidence and how is looking back going to help anyone? It's certainly not going to help us.

"We have got to carry on playing with the freedom that we have been. We have got a chance if we play like that next summer and I think everyone realises that."

Southgate has been at the helm for 14 months since taking over from Pearce and in that period England have won 12 and drawn one of their 13 matches.

They sailed through their qualification group, then beat Croatia home and away in the Euro finals play-off last month.

But less than two years ago England won 10 games on the trot leading into the 2013 finals, without conceding a goal, only to flop alarmingly in Israel.

Jenkinson said: "We have got a fantastic team and there is a lot of belief. The togetherness in the squad is something I have not experienced at international level before.

"Next summer is a massive tournament and these days people are taking the European finals a lot more seriously than they did in the past.

"We have looked at Spain and we see how seriously they take it. You then see how successful they have been in the seniors and that is something we are beginning to grasp."

Although they brushed aside Portugal on Thursday, Jenkinson insists there is still plenty of improvement from Southgate's young stars.

"Portugal are a very good side and we looked very comfortable, but we were only hitting seven out of 10 as a team. However, it was very encouraging, especially when we are playing them again in the summer.

"We have got one up on them and they pretty much had their strongest squad. I just think we can play even better than that."

Jenkinson has enjoyed his loan spell at Upton Park after telling Gunners boss Arsene Wenger he needed regular football this season.

"As a youngster all you want to do is play football and I said that to the boss," he said.

"I'm loving my football at the moment and we are doing really well. The expectation levels at West Ham have gone up and it is a club going in the right direction, which is why I signed."